


we're all family here

by saveyourheart13



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angus has many nicknames, Family Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, TAZ Secret Santa 2017, also played around with some of the details of post-Story and Song stuff, and his family loves him dearly even if they're sometimes bad at saying it lol, just some good ol' family time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 19:43:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13130748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saveyourheart13/pseuds/saveyourheart13
Summary: “You always go to your room in the evening,” Kravitz comments, red eyes watching him carefully. “Do you prefer reading in there? If that’s the case, we won’t force you to --”“Oh, not necessarily, sir! I just… didn’t want to intrude on your space?”Angus finds his family, though they found him a while ago.(Alternatively: Angus wants to read, Taako slips up (in a good way), and Kravitz is here to see his family has a good night. Also family cuddles)





	we're all family here

**Author's Note:**

> It's my Secret Santa fic for [tigerphantom](http://tigerphantom.tumblr.com/)! 
> 
> I actually realized a couple of things about Angus while writing this, one of them being that he's apparently only four inches shorter than I am?? I was also reminded that he is a great magical boy and his family loves him a lot. Also offers of probably-illegal lich magic being taught are a thing, but it's fine?
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

“Where ya going, Ango?” 

Angus pauses as Taako calls out to him, re-adjusting his grip on the (rather large) book he’s clutching to his chest. He turns to face the elf, curled up on one end of the couch with his legs draped across the lap of his reaper boyfriend; and though he hasn’t turned completely from his own book, Taako’s gaze is clearly trained on the young boy.

“Just -- I was just going to my room to do a bit of reading, sir.” He watches as one of Kravitz’s eyebrows raises elegantly, the reaper’s expression otherwise fairly neutral. It unnerved Angus, at least at first, how poised the man always seemed, dressed as much with an air of business as the suits and feathered cloaks he wears. But he’s seen him more often since the Day of Story and Song, with soft eyes (that still glow in the dark and definitely don’t give young boy detectives a start) and a kind smile turned in the direction of more than just his partner.

“You always go to your room in the evening,” Kravitz comments, red eyes watching him carefully. “Do you prefer reading in there? If that’s the case, we won’t force you to --”

“Oh, not necessarily, sir! I just… didn’t want to intrude on your space?” He adjusts his glasses, aware that it’s a tell of his when he gets nervous. “I was always told it’s rude to be somewhere you’re not invited.” Angus jumps a little as Taako snaps his book shut, his dark eyes sharp as he sits a bit straighter and turns to face him. 

“Where’d you get that idea?” Taako shares a look with Kravitz, both of their expressions worried for a moment so brief that an eye not trained to spot the most miniscule of clues would have missed it. 

“Sir?”

“How’d you get to thinking you’re not welcome here, in your own home?”

It’s still something he’s getting accustomed to, having a home that isn’t the former Bureau of Balance dorm room that he’d been assigned when he was made a Seeker. It had been a few months since the Day of Story and Song, but Taako had shown up at his door and instructed him to start packing his belongings, ushering him off to a new room of his own in the house they all lived in now. 

“It’s not that I don’t feel welcome here, sir -- believe me, you’ve made sure that I do!” And it’s true; though Taako had insisted -- several times and very loudly -- that the arrangement was just to ensure he can continue his lessons, he’d gone out of his way to make sure Angus knows where the best places to get a bit of quiet are, and that any books are there to be read and not just looked at. “But you and Kravitz should have your own time. Specifically without anyone else around to interrupt.”

“Ango,  _ please _ . You’re supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and it ain’t a big mystery that family is always welcome to share in the presence of the great Taako.” He’s giving a look that Angus knows well, one that he sees often when Taako is stating something as a fact when really it’s new information; and because of that, it takes him a moment to process what Taako had said.

“You -- we’re family, sir?” The question leaves his mouth before he can stop it, a smile finding its way to his face. Taako shuts his mouth quickly, cheeks touched with just a hint of a blush as he opens his book again in an attempt to seem casual. A muffled laugh escapes Kravitz, who had brought a hand to his mouth in a failed attempt to hide is grin.

“Well don’t say it like it’s an assignment, Agnes. Lucretia doesn’t run our lives anymore.” The usual hint of bitterness is absent from his voice at the mention of the Director, apparent even with his voice muffled by the pages of the book he’s brought up to hide his face. “Got free will and all that, do what you want.”

“What Taako means to say,” Kravitz cuts in, spreading the arm opposite of his blushing boyfriend wide in invitation, “is that you’re more than welcome to sit with us whenever you’d like. Doesn’t just have to be when we’re reading your Caleb Cleveland novels, you know.”

Angus hesitates for a moment, just a little stunned and most definitely touched by the statement, and Taako sighs dramatically before he can step forward, sitting up and scooting to one side of the couch. He pats the space between himself and Kravitz, rolling his eyes without any real malice behind the motion.

“Come on then, you heard Skeli-man. Spot won’t fill itself. Don’t worry, he won’t bite.” They engage in a decidedly undignified exchange of tongues stuck out at each other, and Angus can’t help but beam as he all but bounds over and settles himself between the two of them. He thumbs through the pages of his book, finding where he left off while studying earlier, and he’s about to start reading when familiar handwriting catches his eye from the pages of Taako’s book.

“Are those my records, sir?” Angus remembers when he’d started writing down his experiences as a Seeker, a habit he’d made his own after seeing the Director do it herself each time Taako, Magnus, and Merle had left her office after debriefing, or after other Seekers or Regulators had reported back to her with their findings. He’d left them in the room he’d shared with Davenport while they worked, where he had a small bookshelf and a desk to himself; he didn’t know they’d even left the room, much less that Taako had them. 

The elf’s ears flick lightly, the color that returns to his face barely visible against his skin as he smooths out one of the pages. Angus skims it quickly, recognizing the entry as the one detailing the expedition to the crystalized lab, where the Philosopher’s Stone had been retrieved; he knows that, about midway through the entry, the ink is smeared where his tears fell on the page, after he’d lost contact with them for a while.

“A great detective needs to keep records, doesn’t he?” Taako mutters, loosely quoting one of Detective Cleveland’s rules for being an effective detective. “Can’t let these be forgotten.” His ears twitch again as Kravitz leans in towards Angus, bringing a hand up to the side of his mouth as he speaks in a stage-whisper.

“He reads them all the time, you know. He’ll tell you it’s because he’s in a lot of the adventures, but really he wants to know what else you wrote about.” He chuckles as a small pillow flies at him from across the room, Taako’s Mage Hand flipping him off before disappearing in a shimmer of magic. Angus giggles, leaning into Taako’s side as speaks.

“Thank you for helping me be a great detective, sir.” 

“Yeah, well, you don’t need ol’ Taako’s help for that one, bubbeleh,” he says quietly, leaning lightly into Angus as well. 

Angus ducks his head to hide his grin, shifting his attention to the book of spell runes in his hands -- a gift from Taako and Kravitz when he’d first moved in, left on his bed with a small note that read ‘Even the Sheriff of Magic can learn more’ in Taako’s looping handwriting, signed by both of them. What they didn’t know is that it came with an extra note from Lup, tucked between the pages for fire and blasting -- ‘Bar and I have a few extra we can teach you; just don’t tell Ghost Rider about them’. 

He begins to read as Kravitz hums a soft tune, Taako tapping a lazy beat on his leg on his other side, both of them falling into sync as he carefully traces each rune with a finger on the page. And between one breath and the next, Angus feels himself settle into the sense of home, of  _ family _ that he’s a part of now -- has been for a while, really.

Angus is, after all, the world’s greatest detective. And he knows that rule number one is you can’t deny the facts. 

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot more rhyming and almost-rhyming than I meant for there to be in this fic, and I was a couple of seconds away from making it 'Caleb Cleveland's Rules for Being An Effective Detective(TM)', but I stopped myself ahaha. 
> 
> My beta was a hero and pointed out my accidental rhymes, and also some actual mistakes. 
> 
> As always, you can find me on tumblr @saveyourheart13 if you want to yell, or just to chat!


End file.
